Barrettes have been developed that include soft materials that are attached to standard metal barrette parts. Typically these are decorative and do not affect the performance of the barrette with regard to its ability to grip hair.
Devices for retaining hair, such as barrettes, bobby pins, claw clips, and hair clips, are generally known in the art. These devices come in various shapes and sizes including various adornments to improve the esthetic appeal of the hair retaining device. One of the ongoing difficulties with these devices, however, is the inability to prevent these devices from sliding off of or moving relative to the strands of hair to be engaged and retained by the devices. For example, during normal movement throughout the day these devices tend to lose their grip around the strands of hair, thereby loosening the bundle of hair the devices are intended to retain.
One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,251 to Burleson et al. which discloses a cushion coated hair clip having low friction surfaces. The hair clip includes a layer of compressible, resilient cushion material such as natural rubber or elastomer synthetic resin material, or cellular plastic foam that is bonded onto the hair engaging surfaces. A thick non-porous outer coating layer is applied to the compressible cushion layers for providing smooth, low friction, non-sticking surfacing for directly engaging the hair.
Another such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,996,593 to Horman which discloses a hair clip. The hair clip includes an alternating sequence of rubber teeth secured to surfaces of each of two clamping arms which are in an interlocking mating relationship, thereby providing for a greater surface area between the clamping arms of the hair clip.
Another such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,830 to Hannum which discloses a barrette. The barrette includes a pair of hingedly connected outer and inner body members. The first body member is provided with means for grippingly, non-slidably engaging the hair of the wearer. The other body member is provided with lifting means, including means for manually retracting and extending the lift means relative to the body member to permit unhindered insertion of the body member in the hair of the user.
These and similar retaining devices, however, do not provide the desired gripping ability for retaining a bundle of hair, or are too costly to manufacturer, and/or cause damage to the user's hair.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0162738 A1 discloses a hair retaining clip that includes a high friction material disposed on a locking arm.